IBM Mainframe

Google Desktop 2 has graduated from beta. Google Desktop Search is a free downloadable small program, which will quickly and easily find your files no matter where in your hard disk they are stored. The great thing about this program is by making your computer searchable, this program frees you from having to manually organize and sort your files, emails, and downloads. You no more have to mull over where in your PC the information you are looking for is residing ? in your email, files or web pages that you browsed recently.

The new consumer desktop search tool adds the Personalized Maps Panel, a section of the Sidebar that rotates through maps relevant to the user's location and interests. The panel is auto-personalized based on the user's activity and location. The Sidebar is a customizable desktop application that offers quick access to content and data feeds, as well as small applications.

Google Desktop Search is fairly easy to download and set up from Here.

Once you installed the program, it begins initial indexing process of your hard disks. This may take several hours for an average size disk.

The one-time indexing process only works when the computer has been idle for more than thirty seconds. Indexing for Google Desktop Search is an ongoing process, new files and emails get updated automatically. The search index created by the program resides on your own computer.

After the indexing, you open a search window by double-clicking the little swirl that Desktop installs in the system tray at the bottom right corner of your screen. The search page looks just like a Google Search page, so you simply type your search as you would on Google. Desktop then generates a list of files and email messages that match you query, complete with a summary and location, just like a Google web search.

Google Desktop search uses the same algorithm that has made Google one of the top web search engines, but instead of applying its index of the entire web, it applies it to an index of your computer. This does not mean, however, that Google knows what is on your computer. The index of your machine resides there and is never accessed by Google. Even when you do a web search, Desktop intercepts the query and runs an identical one on your computer and then merges the results of the web search and its local search to display a results page with links to files on the web and on your computer.

The email query results are the best! No longer have you had to remember in which folder you stored the email written to John in reference to Peter. By searching for Peter or John, you will find all relevant emails and related correspondence. You can read and answer to any of the discovered email from the thread. This really saves time when you need to follow up to a large numbers of emails each day.

Google introduced the new Personalized Maps panel in this final version. As you browse the web, this panel will display maps information related to the pages you're visiting, it can show you interesting places around the world, or you can directly navigate to your favorite spots. Like most features in the Sidebar, the panel is auto personalized and does not require input from the user unless they'd like to customize the display.

There are two more text buttons next to the search field. One is Desktop Preferences and other is Remove Items. Desktop preferences allow you to choose the types of files you would like the program to include in its index out of available ones. You can also point out not to index specific folders from your hard disk. If you share your PC with others, it?s a good idea to eliminate your private folders from the Desktop index. You can also specify not to index certain websites from your cached web history as well. The Remove items button allow you to eliminate selected results from the index.

Google Desktop for Enterprise provides enhanced administration, integration and security features for business environments. Through a collaborative effort between Google and IBM, this release also offers improved search across IBM Lotus Notes messages.

Dozens of new Sidebar panels have been developed using the Google Desktop API. A few notable examples include panels for iTunes and Winamp, a dictionary, and an American Express panel to track and view credit card transactions in real time. You can download your favourite one from here